The Big Wet

---

We booked a tour to The Great Barrier Reef from Cairns and got a complimentary day on a 'coral cay' called Green Island. We actually stopped off at Green Island on the way out to the reef on the first day. It was probably one of the worst days to do the trip as the sea was very choppy and lots of the other tourists on the boat were throwing up (lovely!). It was also choppy at Green Island so we decided not to snorkel as the visibility wasn't very good. However as we were on the beach the lifeguard set off his siren and orders everyone out the water. Jason ran over to be nosey and saw a young crocodile was swimming to the beach. This apparently has never happened before at the island and it was probably lost as the poor thing was knackered. However as the doppy tourists (including J) got close the crocodile it moved really quick and threatened to bite. Jason ran behind all of the Japanese tourists. Luckily there is a little crocodile park on the island and a couple keepers came and caught it.

We were also rewarded with a good look at a reef shark on the way to the boat. So even though the weather was crap we did see some good stuff to make up for it. We then caught the boat out to the jetty on the outer Great Barrier Reef. When we got there it was pi**ing down with rain. We had lunch on the shaky boat and went in a submersible to look at the corals and fish. Again because the weather was bad the visibility was poor but you could see some big cod fish. There was also an underwater walkway where we saw some divers playing with a huge Hump headed Maori wrasse. These fish are like dogs and this one loved being petted and kept following the divers around. The weather calmed a little and we gave snorkeling a go. This wasn't too bad and we did see some fish but not near as many when we snorkeled in Malaysia and Thailand.

The next day which was our complimentary trip to Green Island and was a lot better. The weather had cleared up so we did snorkeling and I went mad with the camera (in the underwater case). The visibility was a bit better and I got to see quite a few fish, clams and even some cuttle fish!!

---

Photos

He's only a little'n!
Keeper bloke with captured crocodile.

Humbug fish on Jetty steps
Great barrier Reef

Silver fish
Dont know what this ones called but lots of them were swimming around green island

Moon Wrasse
Visibility is'nt great here but if you blow it up you can see it better.

Sky and clouds
Ther sky cleared up on the way back and we saw the sun shinig through the clouds there is coloured effect at the bottom.